Daughter (2019)
Daughter is a silent film and I think that is a good point. Expanding upon my previous forefront post, the film also emphasizes on a good performance can go a long way. As Rudlop Arhiem very well states;
“Not only does speech limit the motion picture to an art of dramatic portraiture, it also interferes with the expression of the image.” ~ Arhiem (1938:228)
Reflecting on her childhood as well as parts of growing up that she believes are universal, Kashcheeva composed the short, which examines the relationship between a father and his daughter—which has deteriorated over the years due to misunderstandings. “I recalled times when I needed help from my parents but they were busy. I was offended as I went to my room and thought, “Oh, if I died, they would cry.” Things that are very odd,” the director says. Although I have excellent parents, I believe that every child experiences times when they require more love and care. Silence is the real killer here.
The film is a case study about a complicated relationship between a young woman and her father. She finds him in a hospital ward and recalls their tumultuous connection as children, how they eventually separated ways, met again, and were reunited. Having worked in theater for a while (mostly mime and puppeteers), I can fully resonate with the approach here, e.g., sometimes expressions are enough to convey an emotion that words can not fully justify. Being a millennial, I think the unfinished look of the characters gives it a unique richness. For Kashcheeva, part of the challenge of creating Daughter stemmed from her desire to bring a dirty, imperfect, documentary feel to a stop-motion world. I believe this intentional rough art style gives it a nuance. The art style sells you effectively that it is told from the point of view of a child. Kashcheeva tries to achieve is the Dogma95 feel (it was a movement in the late 1990s where filmmakers worked on limited budgets and as a result came up with much creative work). This is something I firmly believe in. Early in my career, I wanted a big budgets for my films, but later on realized that you only make a mess when you have a lot of budget on your hand. Hence fewer creative outputs. A concept that is interesting to me as a filmmaker, when you are on a limited you produce better work then.
References
Grobar, M. (2020). How ‘Daughter’ Director Daria Kashcheeva Brought Documentary Aesthetic To Oscar-Nominated Stop-Motion Short. [online] Deadline. Available at: https://deadline.com/2020/01/dcera-daughter-director-daria-kashcheeva-oscars-animated-short-interview-1202836194/.
http://www.youtube.com. (n.d.). Daughter – 2020 Animated Oscar Shorts. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGcP4hmUyZY [Accessed 1 May 2023].
Arsalan Awais 